The Potter Twins and the Sorcerer's Stone
by Next-Big-Thing00
Summary: Harry and his bold and outspoken twin, Natalie, are raised by their horrible relatives, and are in for a surprise on their eleventh birthday. A school that teaches magic, a stuttering professor that smells like garlic, a seemingly bipolar Potions Master, and friendships that are formed in the strangest of ways. Welcome to the Wizarding World, Potters. AU. Twin-fic.
1. Natalie and Harry Potter

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, spells, potions, or anything else from the Harry Potter series. Natalie Potter is my own brainchild, though.**

**A/N: I'm taking a break from Star Trek. I realize that I have to learn more about the actual universe before starting a multi-chaptered story on it. So, my favorite fandom before I got into sci-fi is next! Go Harry Potter! Yippee!**

* * *

Natalie Potter was miserable. It was the only way to describe the way she felt at the moment- the mid-afternoon heat was relentless, beating down hard on her bare arms and making tendrils of her red locks stick to her forehead with sweat.

It had been more than an hour since Aunt Petunia had ordered her to go pick weeds, and Natalie was quickly growing tired of the work; her stomach rumbled and Natalie realized she hadn't had anything to eat or drink the whole day aside from a stolen pear and the small amount of juice provided from that. Her twin brother, Harry, had been working nearly as long and twice as hard mowing the lawn. After school, this kind of work seemed even more grueling.

Scowling and wiping away her hair from her forehead, Natalie plucked the weeds more violently and viciously than was necessary. Horrible, Aunt Petunia was- and so was Uncle Vernon, for that matter. But of course, Natalie would never voice it out loud unless provoked by the horsey-faced woman or the walrus-like man. And even in that circumstance, the result would be her attending to more than just weeds as punishment. The bathrooms, the laundry, and cooking the meals all by herself was less appealing than just picking weeds, and so she resigned herself to the task with vigor in hopes of getting it done quicker.

Once the last weed was plucked and the grass was cut down to a more reasonable level, Natalie looked over to her brother and motioned with her head for him to sit down with her on the bench just a few feet away. He grinned and sat down while she set out her worn deck of cards to build a card house.

"Dudley's birthday is tomorrow," Natalie grumbled as she carefully arranged the first triangle. "It looks like we're going to Mrs. Figg's again."

Harry nodded, his messy, jet-black locks swaying with the motion. "Maybe we'll be able to stay home this time." He suggested hopefully, shrugging.

Although they were twins, Natalie and Harry barely looked the part. Natalie's hair was a fiery red, and her button nose differed greatly from her brother's longer one. There was a thin, hook-shaped scar, barely visible on the left side of her forehead, and her facial features were much softer and rounder than Harry's. They both, however, had the same skinny, hungry look of children that weren't properly taken care of; that, and bright, almond-shaped emerald eyes. Harry had black hair, with more pointed features and a thin, lightning-bolt shaped scar on the right side of his forehead.

It was nearing evening by the time they had placed the last card, when the back door suddenly slammed open, and Aunt Petunia stood there, hands on her hips, glaring at them, her bony frame shaking with anger. "What do you two think you're doing?! Girl, come in here _right this instant _and wash the dishes! Boy, vacuum the sitting room!" She shot them her dirtiest look. "Probably haven't done anything for hours…"

Natalie scowled at her aunt, but began packing away her cards. She and Harry walked, single-file, back into the house. Right before Natalie entered, Aunt Petunia grabbed the back of her overalls.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia?" Natalie droned robotically.

"Give me those cards," Aunt Petunia glared down at her. "Just so you and your brother don't go taking breaks again when there are chores to be done!"

Natalie stared up at her aunt, her lips parted slightly in disbelief. "You can't take away my cards!"

Aunt Petunia's bony features twisted farther into anger. "Yes I can! Hand them over, Girl, or you'll be sorry!" She spat. Natalie grit her teeth and dug her cards out of her overalls pocket, slapping them as hard as she dared into the awaiting palm of her aunt's hand.

"I swear, one of these days…" Natalie grumbled angrily, stomping into the house and toward the sink to wash dishes. Aunt Petunia closed the back door and clutched a hand to her chest almost theatrically at the sight of Natalie's trailing of dirt on her pristine kitchen tile.

"GIRL! CLEAN THIS MESS UP _NOW_!

"Well, what do you want me to do first?!"

"DON'T GET SMART WITH ME OR YOUR UNCLE WILL BE HEARING ABOUT THIS!"

Natalie scowled and wordlessly got the broom to sweep up the dry dirt. It took longer than she thought it would because Harry had left some also, and it took about more than an hour to do all of the dishes. The summer light faded slowly from the kitchen window. Before her aunt could order her to do anything else, Natalie booked it out of the kitchen, up the stairs, and up a retractable ladder to the Dursley's tiny attic- the space in which she slept- to get away from her horrible aunt. She undressed and slipped under her thin cover.

Dudley, her and Harry's cousin, didn't have to do any dishes, or mow any lawns, or pluck any weeds or even flush the toilet after himself; he was just _that _pampered. Natalie frowned and shifted in her small cot to get more comfortable, contemplating for the millionth time what life would be like if she were _not _someone's personal chore slave. She couldn't wait until she could grow up already and be old enough to move far away from this miserable, cookie-cutter house and its oppressive inhabitants. Harry would come, too, and they could live the rest of their lives without the stinkin' Dursleys. Her eyelids drifted shut, and she welcomed the warm darkness of sleep.

* * *

She awoke from her strange dream of bright, green light and a… flying motorcycle…

A loud rapping on the trapdoor of the attic made her sigh tiredly. Natalie quickly dressed while her aunt screeched away at her to get up.

"Hurry up and make the eggs, and don't you _dare _let anything burn! I want everything perfect for Duddy's birthday!" Oh, joy. The day had finally came.

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Natalie droned loud enough for her aunt to hear. Natalie opened up the trapdoor and climbed carefully down the ladder. It shook with every step down its wooden rungs, but she made it down and pushed it back up with ease. She stopped by the bathroom, but eventually made it downstairs and into the kitchen to help her brother make breakfast. He was tending to the bacon tiredly, his movements just short of sluggish, as was the usual morning behavior for sane people. Natalie guessed that she probably looked the same.

She gathered her ingredients and pan and began to fry some eggs beside her brother near the stove.

"Jolly good morning, isn't it?" She whispered to him, so that their Uncle (who was at the table behind them next to Aunt Petunia) wouldn't hear. Harry's shoulders shook with silent laughter, and they finished up the breakfast and placed it on the table, hurrying to take their share before Dudley got to it. Their oh-so-delightful cousin, at the moment, was busy counting his numerous presents.

"Thirty-six," Dudley pouted. "That's two less than last year."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me…" Natalie mumbled angrily. Fortunately, neither her aunt nor uncle heard.

Aunt Petunia was quick to mollify her son. "Darling, you haven't counted Aunt Marge's present, see, it's under that big one form Mummy and Daddy!" She consoled.

"Alright, thirty-seven then!" His fat face was quickly becoming flushed with red. Natalie raised an eyebrow at her brother, who had started wolfing his bacon down faster in anticipation of the table being thrown over in a temper tantrum.

Aunt Petunia had obviously sensed a fit coming on, too, because she added quickly, "And we'll buy you two more while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents, is that alright?"

"Then I'll have thirty… thirty…" Natalie held in her scoff when she saw how hard her cousin was struggling over the simple addition.

"Thirty-nine, sweetums." Said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh. Alright, then." Dudley plopped down in his chair to open the parcel nearest to him.

"Atta-boy, Dudley! Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father!" Uncle Vernon praised proudly, reaching over to ruffle Dudley's blonde hair.

Natalie watched her brother mirror her own frown while Dudley unwrapped all thirty-seven of his presents, including a racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. The phone rang, and Aunt Petunia got up to answer it while Dudley ripped open the paper to a new, gold wristwatch. Natalie watched as her aunt's expression soured at the news she was receiving over the phone.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's leg is broken; she can't take them." Natalie narrowed her eyes when her aunt threw them a nasty look- as if _they _told Mrs. Figg to break her leg…

Natalie did, however, take some satisfaction in the horrified face of Dudley. Maybe this year, they'd be able to go with the Dursleys out to wherever they went with Dudley and a friend of his. Usually, Natalie and Harry would be sent to Mrs. Figg during Dudley's birthday. Mrs. Figg was a cat lady that lived in the neighborhood, and Natalie was indeed sad that she had broken her leg, but that didn't mean she wasn't happy to know that it would be a while before she saw Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws and Tufty again.

"We could phone Marge." Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates them." Aunt Petunia shot down the idea.

"What about your friend? What's her name- Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca." Aunt Petunia snapped.

"Maybe you could just leave us here?" Harry proposed, and Natalie arched an eyebrow at him. Did he honestly expect that to work? Natalie certainly didn't, after seeing the look on her aunt's face that looked like she had just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back to find the house in _ruins_?" Aunt Petunia snarled at him, and Natalie grit her teeth at the hostile tone taken with him for an honest and convenient suggestion- even if it wasn't that smart, considering the light in which the Dursleys saw her and her twin.

"We wouldn't blow up the house…" Harry mumbled, but Natalie doubted anyone heard him but herself. Nobody did really listen to them, even when they were telling the truth or trying to defend themselves.

"I suppose we could take them with us to the zoo," Aunt Petunia spoke slowly, pondering. "And leave them in the car…"

"That car's new, we aren't leaving them alone in it…" Uncle Vernon scowled. Dudley screwed his face up and began to wail loudly, managing to work up some crocodile tears- as he was wont to do when he feared he wouldn't get his way. Aunt Petunia hurried over and wrapped her arms around her son, an amazing feat to say the least.

"Don't cry, Dinky-Duddyums! Mummy won't let them spoil your special day!"

"But I d-don't want them t-to come!" He whined tearfully. "They a-always ruin e-everything!" Natalie resisted the urge to flip Dudley a rude hand gesture when he shot a nasty grin at them through the gap of Aunt Petunia's arms.

The doorbell rang, and Aunt Petunia scrambled to go answer it. "Oh Lord, they're here!"

When she left, Natalie mumbled to Harry quietly. "Did you have an odd dream, too?"

"Yeah. Flying motorcycle?" He quirked an eyebrow, fighting a bemused smile.

Natalie snickered, nodding. "Flying motorcycle."

"What are you two so happy about?" Uncle Vernon sneered at them, and Dudley (who had cleared all remnants of the fake tears from his eyes) stared at them with his piggy little eyes, frowning.

"Nothing." Natalie deadpanned, her pokerface overwhelmingly convincing. Their two relatives gave her and Harry withering looks before Aunt Petunia came back with Piers Polkiss.

Piers was a thin boy, almost as thin as them, but much more cared for. His face bore great resemblance to that of a rat's, and Natalie made it a point to that out to him every time he tried to tease her or Harry about their secondhand clothes. Natalie openly scowled at him as he passed them to sit by Dudley. He stuck out his tongue at her. Natalie was grateful that they were soon in the car going to the zoo, because being in the back seat meant that she wouldn't have to look at his sneering rat face.

She was also excited that they got to go to the zoo at all. Harry was just as ecstatic, and together, they happily discussed what kind of animals they were likely to see.

Surely, nothing bad could happen during such a fortuitous turn of events?

The car ride to the zoo went better than either of the Potters could have expected, except for a couple of things hampering their happy mood.

Uncle Vernon had taken them both aside and warned them about the consequences of them trying any "funny business" while at the zoo. Natalie had struggled not to cross her arms and roll her eyes, but Harry just nodded and tried to remain blank-faced.

The "funny business" that Uncle Vernon spoke of wasn't something that Natalie or Harry could control. The problem was, strange things happened to them that they couldn't explain and it was just no use telling the Dursleys that they didn't intentionally make them happen.

Once, Aunt Petunia had taken it upon herself to cut Harry's hair, since the barber didn't seem to be doing his job. With a pair of kitchen scissors, she had sheared off all of Harry's hair apart form his bangs to, quote, "hide that horrible scar". Dudley had laughed himself silly, but Natalie tried to make Harry felt better about it. It turned out she didn't have to, however, because the next morning Harry's hair was in the same state as it had been before his shoddy hair cut. He had gotten a week in the cupboard, even though her hadn't _made _it grow back by himself... had he?

And then, when they had visited the small playground on the corner of Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk, a seven-year-old Natalie had been swinging on the swings. She swung higher and higher, until she jumped, and then drifted down slower than gravity should have allowed. Almost as if she had been flying. She had only been hoping she didn't crash land, but she had gotten a week in the attic for something she hadn't even realized she did.

Those incidents aside, they hoped that this visit would go smoothly.

About halfway to the zoo, Uncle Vernon was complaining loudly (as usual) about something or other. The object of his insults drifted over to motorcycles as one cut them off on the highway.

"...roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums!" Their uncle fumed, red-faced.

Then, Harry said, "I had a dream about a motorcycle," Natalie had face-palmed. Where was her brother's common sense? "It was flying." _Way to twist the knife, Harry, _Natalie thought grimly.

The car lurched as their uncle slammed his foot on the brake and just barely avoided hitting the car in front of them. He turned, face even more red and eyes glaring.

"MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!" He yelled, spittle flying and making him look, for all the world, like a giant beet with a bushy moustache.

"He knows they don't," Natalie defended her brother. "It was just a dream, right, Harry?" Her brother nodded vigorously, regretting his slip of tongue. She shot Piers and Dudley dirty looks when they started sniggering, but they only returned them. Rolling her eyes, Natalie sat back in the back seat and stayed silent with her twin until they reached the zoo.

It was probably the best morning either of them had had in a long time. Their aunt and uncle had stopped by the icecream truck and ordered Piers and Dudley large, chocolate icecreams, and Harry and Natalie two cheap, lemon ice pops because the kind lady in the truck had asked before the Dursleys could usher them away. Harry pointed out to Natalie that a gorilla that they passed looked remarkably like Dudley, and they laughed together and had a good time while staying a few feet back from the Dursleys the entire way.

Then, they arrived at the reptile house.

Various kinds of snakes and lizards were on display behind large, glass windows. The lights were dimmed so as not to cause the creatures any discomfort, and the air was moist and warm. Dudley had went straight up to a window that displayed a slumbering Boa Constrictor- the largest snake in the whole place.

He made Uncle Vernon rap on the window a couple of times to wake it up, until he got bored with the lack of movement and shuffled away.

Natalie led Harry over to the window, and they watched the snake empathetically. They, too, didn't like being caged back and oppressed at the Dursleys, and could empathize with the restricting feeling. Then, their eyes widened in wonder and curiosity as its head rose from its body of thick, green coils.

It _winked_.

Natalie exchanged a bemused look with her brother and they looked around to make sure they weren't being watched, before turning back, and winking at it. She felt silly, and wondered if Harry felt silly, too, winking at a snake...

But then, the snake turned its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley and raised its eyes to the ceiling in a look that plainly said, _I get that all of the time_.

Natalie smiled ruefully at it, nonverbally trying to convey her regrets of the behavior of her relatives. "I know," Harry murmured next to her. "It must be really annoying."

The snake nodded vigorously. Natalie, curious, asked, "Where do you come from, anyway?"

The snake jabbed its tail toward a sign that read, _Boa Constrictor, Brazil_.

"Was it nice there?" Harry asked. The snake gestured with its tail toward the sign again, and they read on. _This specimen was bred in the zoo_.

"Oh, so you've never been to Brazil?" Natalie asked, still curious. Then, a voice behind them yelled unexpectedly and deafeningly.

"DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THE SNAKE! YOU WON'T _BELIEVE _WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling over, and shoved Harry to get a better view of the window. "Out of the way, you." Harry fell hard to the concrete floor, and Natalie felt a rush of anger at the blatant rudeness of her cousin toward her twin as she helped him up. Two horrified howls briefly stopped the cogs of her brain from coming up with a violent revenge, and her and Harry looked up to see the glass window had disappeared from the front of the tank.

People screamed and fled as the snake uncoiled and slithered out of its prison. "Brazil, here I come! Thankssssss amigossssss." It hissed at them as it passed by them. Natalie nodded, and Harry waved, even though they had no idea how they had anything to do with the glass disappearing.

The keeper of the reptile house kept spluttering in shock, "But the glass! Where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself poured Aunt Petunia a strong, sweet cup of tea while repeatedly apologizing. Piers and Dudley gibbered away; Dudley was recounting how the snake almost bit his leg off, and Piers swore it had tried to squeeze him to death. Natalie exchanged a look with Harry and they both remembered how the snake had only snapped playfully at their heels as it passed.

They were finally in the car and headed back to Privet Drive, and Piers calmed down enough to say, "Harry and Natalie were talking to it, weren't you guys?" Natalie glared at him menacingly, but he only shrugged.

When they had dropped off Piers and were finally back at the house, Uncle Vernon rounded on them, red-faced and shaking with barely-contained anger, and managed to say, "Go- cupboard, attic- no meals," before he collapsed in a chair, and Aunt Petunia ran to get him a large brandy.

Natalie's mouth quirked upward bitterly, and she squeezed Harry's hand briefly before heading up the stairs to the attic.

* * *

**A/N: What'd you think? Bad? Good? Review! I take all kinds of response! Let me know and I'll continue!**


	2. The Letters From No One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**A/N: Sorry it's been a few days! School stuff is piling up worse than I thought it would... But anyway... Yay! I'm so happy that I planned this story out better than any of my previous ones. The actually typing process goes a lot smoother when I'm not constantly adding things I forgot to mention or overlapping dates and stuff because I don't have the details ironed out.**

**Also, I know **_**now **_**that Dudley's birthday is still during their school term, but it's at the end, right? So making Natalie and Harry do summer work isn't too big of a stretch...**

**Anyways, here's the second chapter!**

**...**

The Boa Constrictor incident earned the twins their longest punishment, yet. That didn't mean they wouldn't sneak downstairs to scavenge snacks from the kitchen late at night. Often, they would cross paths and chow down together.

By the time Harry was let out of his cupboard, and Natalie out of the attic, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and knocked down Mrs. Figg with his racing bike while she was crossing Privet Drive on her crutches. Natalie didn't like being stuck over at Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling house, but that didn't mean the elderly woman deserved to be knocked over. Natalie glared at her cousin every time he passed her, or when came home with his gang.

Even though school was over, Dudley's gang came over every single day.

"Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon are all big and stupid," Harry had explained to Natalie one day while the lot were over. "But since Dudley's the biggest and stupidest, he's the leader." Natalie laughed, knowing it was true.

Dudley's gang's favorite sport to play was Harry Hunting, and it was always up to Natalie to put a stop to it. Not that she always succeeded, because as Harry had said, they were all very big and stupid. Regardless of her superior intelligence, they could easily overpower her if they wanted to. Then the game became Potter Hunting.

The Potters, needless to say, were ready to see the beginning of September. They'd be attending secondary school, and away from their bullying whale of a cousin and his cronies. Dudley was going to Smeltings, a private school that their uncle had attended way back when. Harry and Natalie were going to Stonewall High, and Dudley seemed to think that was funny.

"I heard they stuff people's head down the toilets on the first day at Stonewall," Dudley had said through his mean laughter. "You want to go upstairs and practice?"

"No thanks," Harry said. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it- it might be sick." And then he bolted off before Dudley could wrap his pea-sized brain around what he'd said. Natalie didn't blame him; Dudley could hit pretty hard.

One day in July, when Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to go get his Smeltings uniform, the twins were sent to Mrs. Figg's again. She wasn't quite as fond of her cats anymore, because it turned out she had broken her leg tripping over one of them. Mrs. Figg let Harry and Natalie watch TV, and even gave them some chocolate cake. Albeit chocolate cake that tasted really old.

That evening, Dudley was parading around in his unsightly Smeltings uniform. With a maroon tailcoat, orange knicker-bockers, and a flat straw hat called a "boater", Natalie thought he looked more ready for the circus than school. The Smeltings students also had to have sticks used to whack people with, which Natalie thought was just ridiculous. She saw Harry struggling to keep a straight face, and smiled a little, but had something different on her mind.

While her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were showering Dudley with pride and affection, Natalie slipped into the kitchen, her socks silencing her footsteps. She stared up at the deck of cards that sat on the top shelf above the fireplace and frowned, wondering how she would get to it quickly without making any noise. After a moment of coming up blank, she scowled, frustrated. She stared hard up at the deck of cards, wishing they would just _jump _off of the shelf...

And they did.

The deck came toppling off of the shelf, and the cards fluttered to the floor in a scattered mess. Too shocked to say anything at first, Natalie just stared at the mess of worn, black-backed cards for a long time. Then, remembering her slim time window, began scrambling to pick them all up before her dear aunt and uncle came waltzing into the kitchen.

When she stepped back next to Harry, her cards safe in her pocket, she decided not to tell him what happened. Strange things had happened to the both of them, sure, but never something so intentional.

Such a curious occurrence...

* * *

The next morning, Natalie found her aunt in the kitchen dying her and Harry's uniforms for Stonewall in a large basin. The mess she was stirring the cloth in smelled like rotten eggs. While Natalie was beside her aunt, she peered into the basin and wrinkled her nose.

"Hm." Natalie hummed in a low tone, after realizing what the dirty rags swimming in grey water were. Aunt Petunia looked to her sharply.

"I don't care if you don't like it, girl, you'll be wearing these uniforms and you'll be grateful for it!" her aunt snapped.

"I didn't say anything, Aunt Petunia." For her cheek, she was granted an eye-watering clout to the back of her head. Rubbing her noggin tenderly, she shuffled away from her aunt and sat down at the table. Harry came in next, and Natalie grimaced at him and nodded subtly toward their aunt. His eyebrows raised, he went over to stand in the spot that his sister had just vacated.

"What's that?" he asked, curious.

Aunt Petunia's expression soured, as it always did whenever he or his twin dared to ask a question. "It's your new school uniform," she said, lips thin.

"Oh," said Harry. "I didn't realize it had to be so wet." Natalie covered her mouth to hide her snicker. Harry smirked.

"Don't be stupid," Aunt Petunia snapped. Natalie stopped laughing and glared at her aunt, who fortunately wasn't looking at her. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for the two of you," she spared a brief glance at Natalie, who dropped her glare for the smallest of seconds. "It'll look just like everyone else's when I'm done."

Natalie and Harry exchanged a skeptical look, and Harry sat down beside Natalie. Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in not too long after, both with wrinkled noses at the smell of the twins' new uniforms. They sat down, and Uncle Vernon (as usual) opened his newspaper. Dudley was banging his Smelting stick, which he carried around everywhere, on the table.

They heard the click of the mail slot and the flop of the letters on the doormat.

"Get the mail, Dudley," Uncle Vernon said from behind his paper.

"Make Harry get it." Dudley redirected lazily.

"Get the mail, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it."

"Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley."

Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Natalie pondered over the events of the day before, until Dudley tried to poke her with the Smelting stick. She smacked it away reflexively.

"Keep that _thing _away from me," she scowled. Dudley sneered and kept hitting her in the leg with it. She kicked it, and Dudley opened his mouth to tell on her when Uncle Vernon shouted and startled both of them.

"Hurry up, boy! What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?" He chuckled at his own terrible joke, and Natalie grimaced in pain as Dudley poked her particularly hard in the leg with the stick again. Harry came back in, handed most of the mail to their uncle, and to Natalie's surprise, kept two for himself.

He sat down and handed one to her. She gave him a questioning look, but examined the letter anyway. Never in her life had she ever gotten a letter. Who sent it? She had no friends, and didn't borrow books from the library, either, so she never even got rude notes asking for her to return them. It read, on the front:

Ms. N. Potter  
The Attic  
4 Privet Drive  
Little Whinging  
Surrey

The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and had an emerald-green stamp on the front. She curiously noted that there was no stamp. On the other side, there was a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, a serpent, an eagle, and a badger surrounding the capital letter 'H'.

Natalie ripped open the top quickly and slipped the actual letter out-

"Dad! Dad, Harry's got something!" Dudley exclaimed, pointing a finger at Harry. His piggy eyes landed on her letter. "And Natalie, too!"

"Give me those!" Uncle Vernon snatched Harry's letter sharply from his hands.

"That's _mine_!" said Harry, trying vainly to get it back in his grasp. Natalie's eyes widened and she looked down at the letter, ripped a section off, and tucked the rest in quickly before compliantly handing it over to their uncle. Harry gave her an incredulous look at the fightless sacrifice, so out of character for his usually willful sister, but she only smirked at him. She crumpled the parchment paper in her left fist and stuffed it in her pocket to read later.

Uncle Vernon's eyes scanned back and forth over the first few lines of Harry's letter. Whatever it said, it made Uncle Vernon's face change color like a set of traffic lights. From red, to green, and finally settling on the grayish white of old porridge.

"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped.

Dudley, obviously interested in the letter's contents, made a grab for it, but Uncle Vernon held it out of reach. Aunt Petunia came over and grabbed both letters, but began to read Harry's. Just like her husband, her reaction was almost immediate. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise, looking ready to faint.

"Vernon! Oh my goodness- Vernon!" They stared at each other, seeming to forget that Natalie, Harry, and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley didn't seem to take to kindly to being ignored, and gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.

"I want to read those letters," he said loudly.

"_We _want to read them!" said Harry, furious. "As they're _ours_!" He glanced briefly over at Natalie, who he seemed shocked to find silent; she was, unbeknownst to her brother, willing with all her might the thick, yellowish parchment-envelope that held the other section of her letter would move from her aunt's hand. Maybe, if she wished hard enough... Maybe, the letter might come to her, like the cards did the night before...

But nothing happened.

"Get out, all three of you," croaked Uncle Vernon, while Aunt Petunia hurriedly stuffed the letter back into the envelope. Harry didn't move, and neither did Dudley.

"I WANT MY LETTER!" Harry shouted. Natalie winced; he was right next to her.

"Let _me _see it!" demanded Dudley.

"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon. He took Dudley and Harry by the scruff of their necks and threw them into the hall. He rounded on Natalie, nostrils flared and mustache bristling, and she glared at him before walking out as slowly as she possibly could. He shoved her the last few feet and slammed the kitchen door behind her. Natalie stumbled, and Dudley and Harry were having a silent fight over who got to listen at the keyhole. Dudley being as big as he was, won, and Harry listened at the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor. Natalie lay down next to Harry on her stomach, her head aching slightly for no reason at all...

"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice. "Look at the addresses- how could they possibly know where they sleep? You don't think they're watching the house?"

"Watching- spying- might be following us," muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.

"But what should we do? Should we write them back? Tell them we don't want- " their aunt stopped there, and Natalie knew she was silently trying to convey whatever the letter was offering. Either she knew they were all listening, or she really couldn't bring herself to say whatever that letter said. If the latter was true, Natalie lost whatever minuscule amount of respect she had for her aunt in that very moment.

"No," their Uncle said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get an answer... yes, that's best... we won't do anything."

"But- "

"We're not having any in the house, Petunia! Didn't we swear when we took them in that we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"

* * *

Later, Harry and Natalie were hanging out in the attic.

"What was up with you this morning? Didn't you want our letter back at all?" Harry asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"Of course I did," Natalie smirked secretively, reaching into her pocket and taking out the crumpled bit of parchment. "I just already had a piece of it, so I wasn't too rushed to get the rest."

Harry grinned so hard Natalie was sure it reached from ear to ear. "You're brilliant, Nat!"

"Yeah, I know," she smiled, but it quickly dropped into a frown. "I wanted to slip the whole thing, but they would've been suspicious if there was no letter at all in mine."

"That's alright, just read it out already." Harry gestured wildly toward the scrap. Natalie began to uncrumple the small section, but a loud banging on the trapdoor startled both of them.

Natalie got up and lifted the door and folded ladder and peered down to see her Uncle Vernon standing below with a mop in his hand. He had apparently been using the handle to hit the door.

"Get down here, both of you."

Natalie gestured toward Harry and unfolded the retractable ladder so that they could both climb down. They were on the second floor landing now, and at a shorter height than the large man once more. Said large man took notice of the scrap still clutched in Natalie's grasp.

"What it that?" He snatched it, and Natalie's guts clenched in a crushed hope. Her uncle read over the content of the brief scrap, paled, and stuffed it hurriedly in his pocket. His face reddened, and Natalie stepped back instinctively. Then, Uncle Vernon took a deep breath and pasted a horrible attempt at a smile on his face.

"Listen, Harry, Natalie; your aunt and I have been thinking,"

_Have you? _Natalie thought bitterly, remaining a blank face despite her mutinous thoughts of just jumping her uncle and taking the scrap by force. The fact that he was using their first names made those thoughts all the more appealing- the man didn't _deserve _to use their first names.

"And we've decided that you're both getting a bit big to be sleeping where you are. So, you're both moving into Dudley's second bedroom."

Number 4, Privet Drive had four bedrooms. There was one for Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, one for guests (usually Aunt Marge, Uncle Vernon's horrid sister), one that Dudley slept in, and one where Dudley kept all of his toys and things that couldn't fit in his bedroom.

Natalie fought the urge to strangle her uncle. So _now _they were getting too big to sleep in cramped spaces? Since when was it the norm to allow growing children to sleep there in the first place? She was sure their uncle was only moving them to throw off whoever sent that letter. Instead of the attic, now she lived in the second bedroom. Although, the sender would still know the exact address on the exact street...

"Why?" Harry asked.

"Don't ask questions!" barked Uncle Vernon. Natalie growled audibly, and their uncle turned to her.

"Where are our letters?!" She demanded.

"I've burned them, just like I'm going to burn that small scrap of paper you were hiding away." He was still straining to remain calm and somewhat friendly-faced, but was failing greatly.

"But they were _ours_!" Harry fumed.

Natalie continued heatedly. "It is _illegal _to read someone else's m- "

"SILENCE!" Uncle Vernon bellowed. "Take your things and move them upstairs, now."

And with that, he turned and made his way down the stairs. Natalie realized her fists were clenching and unclenching involuntarily, and stopped the movement. She turned to her brother, who looked just as angry and confused as she was. Why couldn't they just read their letters? To have their first and only letters be snatched away before they could read them didn't stamp down their curiosity; it stoked it. Stoked it so that both siblings were burning to know just who sent the letters and why.

And with that curiosity, an anger. Anger that something of theirs was wrongfully taken.

Natalie went back up the ladder and gathered her meager belongings. After folding it all up in her threadbare quilt, she climbed back down and shut the trapdoor from the landing for the last time before storming into Dudley's second bedroom and throwing it all near the foot of the bed underneath the window.

The bed underneath the window formed a right angle with another bed that was pressed against the wall facing the wardrobe. Next to the wardrobe, a desk. Adjacent to the desk, the door. Any other space in the room was occupied by various broken toys and things. Natalie plopped down and huffed, staring around at everything.

The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank that sat in the corner. That same tank, controlled by Dudley, had ridden over the neighbor's dog. Next to the tank was Dudley's first television, which he had put his foot through when his favorite television program was cancelled. A large birdcage, which used to hold a parrot before Dudley swapped it at school for a real air rifle. Said air rifle was up on a shelf, bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books, which seemed to be the only thing Dudley hadn't touched.

Harry came through the open door a few moments after her cursory glance of the room. He glanced around and put his stuff at the foot of his bed before lying down. It was silent for quite a few long moments save for the sound of Dudley's whining ("I don't _want _them in there... I _need _that room... make them get out..."). By the time the semi-silence was broken, Natalie had lie down as well and her eyelids were drooping.

"I'd rather be in my cupboard with my letter, than up here without it." Harry whispered into the growing darkness.

Natalie hummed and turned over, pulling her quilt tighter over herself. "Me too."

Before her eyelids slid shut for the last time, a fleeting thought flashed across her brain like a shooting star. It must have been a coincidence that the cards toppled at her command, and that two mysterious letters showed up the very next morning. It must have been, or else the two events (plus all other supernatural occurrences that happened around her and Harry) were linked in some way that seemed so obvious, yet so far-fetched...

_If you eliminate the impossible, _Natalie thought as her surroundings became foggier. _Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth..._

She stomped down on her blooming thought. The thought itself was just as the quote said to dismiss; impossible.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock, and Natalie gained a small amount of satisfaction at the look on his face. At least she and Harry weren't the only ones that hadn't gotten what they wanted.

Their spoiled cousin had screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn't have his room back. Natalie was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing she had just ducked underneath the table and read her letter quickly. She was sure her twin was thinking along the same lines. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.

Uncle Vernon, who was still faking the nice act, made Dudley go and get the mail when it came through the slot. They heard him banging his Smelting stick all down the hall. Then, he shouted, "There're more of them! Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, Four Privet Drive- oh, and one for Ms. N. Pott- "

With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt out of his chair and came barreling down the hall, but Natalie had been up and out of her seat at the sound of 'Mr. H'. She charged Dudley and tackled him to the floor (with some effort), and Uncle Vernon and Harry weren't too far behind. She saw, briefly, Harry grab Uncle Vernon's neck from behind, but was too busy wrestling the letters from Dudley's grasp.

"Give- me- those- !" She spat, but Dudley's knee finally made contact with her and sent her rolling away, clutching her stomach in pain. A hand grabbed the back of her over-sized blouse and dragged her away.

A voice hissed in her ear. "_You_," the word was emphasized with a painful pinch to her arm. Natalie cried out. "Will _not _engage in such _ragged _behavior. It's not _ladylike_! And don't you _dare _touch my son again!" Aunt Petunia shoved her aside to check on Dudley. Uncle Vernon had finally gotten the letters into his meaty hand, and Harry was just getting up from his splayed out position on the ground.

Uncle Vernon pointed to Harry and Natalie. "Both- of you," he gasped. "Go- to your room," he turned to Dudley. "Dudley- go- just go,"

In their room, Natalie watched her brother pace back and forth while she rubbed her arm, grimacing. Harry's face was eerily blank apart from the wide, calculating look in his emerald eyes.

"We can go and wait by the corner early tomorrow morning," He finally came to a solution. "And get our letters there instead of waiting for them to be confiscated here."

Natalie frowned. "How early are we talking? You know I'm not a morning person."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Just a couple of hours before we usually wake up."

Natalie stared at him in disbelief, before shaking her head vigorously. "Nope, nuh-uh, I'll get mine another way. You can go and stand out _in your pajamas at six o'clock in the bloody morning_."

She felt a small twinge of guilt as a hurt look flashed across his face. Natalie huffed and lay down, pulling her thin quilt over her body to try and get a nap in before they had to do more chores. A moment passed. Then a few minutes. The guilty feeling grew, and she eventually snapped.

"Fine! I'll go with you!" She grumbled loud enough for him to hear. A small sigh of relief behind her made the guilt fade, and she descended into sleep.


	3. Letters From No One Pt II

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. If I did... oh, if I did... *evil laugh***

**A/N: Third chapter! This chapter contains a lot of the exact words from the book, so be warned. Enjoy! ;3**

**...**

Before the light of dawn creeped into the window, one of twins was already up and waking the other.

Natalie woke to a hand gently pushing her shoulder. She opened her eyes, and saw Harry standing over her with his finger in front of his lips; nonverbally saying, _Be quiet._

Natale groaned quietly and got up to follow her brother. She rubbed the sleep out of one eye as she carefully crept down the stairs behind Harry, cognizant of the squeaky step. Past that, they were almost to the door. One step at a time. One silent, cautious step at a time...

"AAAAAAAUGH!"

Natalie felt more than saw Harry jump up. He leapt into the air, knocking over Natalie. She grunted as she hit the floor, but accepted the hand that was helping her up. He looked sheepish and a bit frightened and Natalie wondered what _exactly _had made that sound. The light clicked on, and they were standing in front of a fat, red face that towered over them. Uncle Vernon. Obviously, he had been camping out in his sleeping bag to make sure they didn't do exactly what they had planned to.

Natalie sighed and remained blank-faced as Uncle Vernon shouted at them. _Good thing it's only shouting_, Natalie thought in bitter relief. After he had finally tired himself out, he barked at Harry to get him some tea. Natalie stood uncomfortably in the hall with her uncle. The mail came through the slot just as Harry came back minutes later.

"I want my- " Harry began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing it into pieces before their very eyes. Natalie scowled for three reasons. One, because she hadn't even wanted to do this in the first place. Two, because the stupid plan didn't even work. Three, because it made her really mad to have something of hers so blatantly destroyed without regard to her feelings.

Not that she expected her uncle to care. And it wasn't like she needed him or anyone else to care anyway. She had been past needing anything from a parenting figure for years.

Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed home and boarded up the mail slot.

"See," Uncle Vernon explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails. "If they can't _deliver _the letters, they'll just give up!"

"I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon."

"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and me," said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock a nail into a board with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.

On Friday, no less than twenty-four letters had arrived for the twins. As the mail slot had been boarded shut, the letters had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced themselves into the small window in the downstairs bathroom. Despite all of the opportunities, neither Harry nor Natalie ever got their hands on one.

Uncle Vernon stayed home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the front and back doors so that no one could get out. He hummed "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" as he worked, and jumped at small noises. Just to mess with him, Natalie would hum the same song and snap her fingers quietly when she passed by where he was working.

On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Forty-eight letters addressed to the twins found their way into the house, two rolled up in each of the dozen eggs that their very confused mail man had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.

"Who on earth wants to talk to _you two _this badly?" Dudley asked Harry and Natalie in amazement. Natalie flipped him a rude hand gesture.

On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.

"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers. Natalie smirked at how her uncle was so obviously losing his mind. "No damn letters today- "

Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply in the back of the head. In the next moment, at least eighty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys all ducked. Natalie watched Harry leap into the air to catch one, but she dove to the floor and managed to get her hands on one addressed to her and one addressed to Harry.

"Out! OUT!"

Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. Natalie tried getting away with the two she had collected, but Uncle Vernon grabbed her and shook her by her arms roughly until she dropped both. Then, he threw her out into the hall like he did her brother.

When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off of the walls and floor.

"That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. "I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going to leave. No arguments!"

He looked so very deragned and dangerous with half of his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Natalie knew that the large man was at his wits-end. It showed, big time.

Ten minutes later, they had wrenched their way through the boarded up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him 'round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag. Natalie wanted to take delight in the fact that he'd finally been punished for something, but the circumstances were too upsetting to even crack a smile.

They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and start driving in the opposite direction for a while.

"Shake 'em off... shake 'em off," he would murmur whenever he did this.

They didn't stop to eat or drink all day. Natalie had gone longer without food, but this whole thing was just _ridiculous_. All of this, and for what?

Dudley was howling by nightfall. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing an alien up on his computer. Natalie wanted to slap him herself.

Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley, Harry, and Natalie shared a room with only twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry and Natalie stayed awake, sitting by the windowsill.

"What do you think that person's trying to tell us?" Harry asked Natalie as he stared down at the passing cars.

Natalie sighed and closed her eyes, absentmindedly twisting a few locks of hair together that had fallen into her face. "I don't know. Whatever it is, it's important." She opened her eyes to stare ot of the window at one flashy green car that passed. "Because, as much as I hate to admit it, Dudley was asking a legit question. Who in their right mind would write to _us_?" She asked rhetorically, bitterly.

They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned omatoes on toast for breakfast the next morning. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table.

"'Scuse me, but are any of you the Potters? Only I got about two hundred o' these at the front desk." She held up two letters addressed to two different people but held the same address:

Mr. H. Potter (Or, Ms. N. Potter)  
Room 17  
Railview Hotel  
Cokeworth

Both the twins reached for them, but Uncle Vernon smacked their hands away. The woman stared. Natalie was screaming at the woman in her mind. _Don't just stand there and stare! Do something!_

"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up. Natalie's hope went away with the manager as she walked away with her uncle. _So much for depending on the kindness of strangers..._

"Wouldn't it be better to just go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, Natalie had absolutely no idea. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and they went off again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.

"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?" Dudley asked Aunt Petunia late that afternoon. Natalie thought bitterly, _So, you've finally figured it out, eh Dud? _Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.

It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled.

"It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a _television_."

Monday. Natalie knew that Dudley was usually accurate when it came to days of the week- because of television- and therefore knew that her and Harry's birthday was the next day. Birthdays for them usually weren't anything special. Last year, she'd gotten a lollipop stick and an old, murky green sweater of Aunt Petunia's that hung down to her thighs. Still, you weren't eleven every year.

Natalie looked to her brother and knew he had realized their birthday was tomorow also. They exchanged weary, but knowing smiles.

Uncle Vernon was back a few minutes later, and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what it was he had bought.

It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing out at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable-looking shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there. Natalie grimaced at her uncle, but he didn't seem to notice her or any of his family's disbelieving and somewhat irritated looks.

"Storm forecast tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!"

A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the in the iron-gray water below them. _You've got to be kidding, _Natalie stared at the little boat in horror.

"I've already got some rations!" said Uncle Vernon. "so all aboard!"

It was freezing in the boat, and Natalie held onto her brother tightly as icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and chilly wind whipped at their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping sliding, led the way to the broken-down shack. Natalie feared for her life as she lost her footing and slipped a little on the icy rock more than once, but eventually they reached the shack.

The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, and the wind whistled through gaps in the wooden walls. The fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.

Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips and four bananas. He and his father ate most of the chips, Aunt Petunia just barely ate five, and the twins were stuck with only their browning bananas. Natalie didn't really care, but she wondered morbidly if Dudley's bottomless stomach would start eating itself before morning came.

Uncle Vernon unsuccessfully tried to start a fire. He seemed abnormally cheerful despite their drab surroundings. He obviously thought there was no chance of any letters coming all the way out here during the storm, and Natalie silently agreed with him, but the thought just fueled her misery.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon slept in the only bedroom, and Dudley slept on the couch with the best blankets Aunt Petunia could find. Natalie and Harry were thrown the thinnest, most ragged blanket and forced to sleep in the warmest corner they could.

The storm raged more and more furiously as the night went on, and Harry had chivalrously offered Natalie the blanket to herself, but she was adamant that he stayed warm as well. They lay, shivering together as the shack creaked and groaned around them.

Dudley's snores were drowned out by the thunder. The lighted dial of the watch on his fat wrist showed that they turned eleven in ten minutes' time. They stared at the watch in somewhat comfortable silence.

"Do you think they'll actually remember this time?" Harry mumbled.

"No," Natalie scoffed softly. "Where do you think the writer is now?" Even in the dark, she could see Harry shrug. Five minutes to go.

Something cracked outside. Natalie jumped. "Did you hear that?"

It was a moment before Harry responded. "Yeah."

"I hope the roof doesn't cave in." Natalie muttered, looking up toward the creaky ceiling.

"At least then it would be warmer." He only shrugged when Natalie shot him a sharp look at his pessimistic thought. Three minutes to go. "Maybe the house will be full of letters by the time we get back, yeah? And then we'll be able to steal one."

Natalie smiled a little at the thought, but it quickly disappeared at the noise outside. Was that the sea slapping at the rocks like that? Two minutes to go. What was that crunching noise? Was the rock finally crumbling into the sea?

"One minute to go," Harry whispered. "And we'll be eleven."

"Yeah," said Natalie back, softly. "Eleven."

"Maybe we can wake Dudley up, just to annoy him?" Harry joked.

Natalie smirked, but then a series of crunching and pounding sounds put her on edge. "Did you hear th- "

BOOM.

The whole shack shivered and they both sat straight up, staring in horror at the door; someone was outside, knocking to come in.

...

**A/N: A bit short? Sorry. Review!**


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